Affordable Housing for Smart Villages

<p>This book initiates a fresh discussion of affordability in rural housing set in the context of the rapidly shifting balance between rural and urban populations. It conceptualises affordability in rural housing along a spectrum that is interlaced with cultural and social values integral to rural livelihoods at both personal and community level. Developed around four intersecting themes: explaining houses and housing in rural settings; exploring affordability in the context of aspirations and vulnerability; rural development agendas involving housing and communities; and construction for resilience in rural communities the book provides an overview of some of the little understood and sometimes counter-intuitive best practices on rural affordability and affordable housing that have emerged in developing economies over the last thirty years. Drawing on practice-based evidence this book presents innovative ideas for harnessing rural potential and empowering rural communities with added affordability and progressive development in the context of housing and improved living standards.</p><ul> <p> </p> <li>For a student aspiring to work in rural areas in developing countries it is an introduction to and map of some key solutions around the critical area of affordable housing</li> <p> </p> <li>For the rural development professional it provides a map of a territory they rarely see because they are absorbed in a particular rural area or project</li> <p> </p> <li>For the academic looking to expand their activities into rural areas especially in rural housing it provides a handy introduction to a body of knowledge serving 47% of the world's population and how this differs from urban practice</li> <p> </p> <li>For the policy makers it provides a map for understanding the dynamics around rural affordability growth potential and community aspirations helping them to devise appropriate intervention programs on rural housing and development</li> </ul>